Author
Busscher, Warren | |
Bauer, Philip |
Submitted to: Annual Southern Conservation Tillage Conference for Sustainable Agriculture
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 5/27/1998 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: On sandy coastal soils with subsurface hardpans, cover crops can prevent erosion and scavenge nutrients. We hypothesized that cover crops would decrease soil strength and increase cotton yield. Treatments were surface tillage (disked or none), deep tillage (in-row subsoiled or none), and cover crop (rye or fallow). Yields were not significantly different. Soil strength (cone index) varied among tillage treatments (deep tilled less than none), depth ( higher strength in the pan), and position across the row (in row less than non-wheel track less than wheel track). Lower cone indices were found in the non-tilled rye cover (19.6 Atm) than non-tilled fallow (21.2 Atm), suggesting that the rye helped maintain low strengths. Higher cone indices in the disked (21.2 Atm) vs. non-disked (19.6 Atm) treatments suggested that the disking hastened recompaction. |